Woah! Kristin, I did my best in my post to avoid being called a racist; I wish you had read it a bit more carefully. There was a reason for my rap+Celine Dion conjunction--I find them both to be equally musically valueless or I could say the same thing about Jewel (and I don't think there's anything poignant about "Foolish Games") or Yanni or whoever... Not that this should matter--but then the racist accusation shouldn't have been brought up either; my own tastes run to Billie Holliday, John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis. And I do believe that all of the above have musical value. I do not believe rap valueless--I am sure that some of it has a great deal of value as a social expression of urban plight etc. I just happen to think that a hundred years from now John Lee Hooker will still be considered "music" and rap will be seen more as a socio-political expression; not a musical one. African-Americans have had an incredible amount of influence in world music (mainly through jazz-the only innovative musical form of the 20th century (that could start another discussion which I will not enter)). That some of the lyrics may have poetic value I do not dispute; Leonard Cohen is a favorite of mine--but I don't appreciate his stuff for the music, I appreciate it for the lyrics. Let me put this bluntly so someone doesn't build another straw man: I did not say that rap is valueless; I said that it is musically valueless just like most of the stuff that old white fogies listen to (Kenny G anyone?). Actually rap is better than that. At least it may have some redeeming value in a non-musical way; Kenny G has none that I can see.
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